countermand

English

Etymology

From Old French contremander, from Medieval Latin contramandō, from contra + mandō (“I order; I command”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkaʊntəˈmɑːnd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʊntɚˌmænd/, /ˌkaʊntɚˈmænd/

Verb

countermand (third-person singular simple present countermands, present participle countermanding, simple past and past participle countermanded) (transitive)

1. To revoke (a former command); to cancel or rescind by giving an order contrary to one previously given.

   Synonyms: cancel, rescind, veto, override

   Near-synonym: counteract

   to countermand an order for goods

2. To recall a person or unit with such an order.
3. To cancel an order for (some specified goods).
   • 1727, Jonathan Swift, A True and Faithful Narrative of What Passed in London:

     Three of the maids of honour ſent to countermand their birth-day cloaths; two of them burnt all their collections of novels and romances, and ſent to a bookſeller’s in Pall-mall to buy each of them a bible, and Taylor’s holy living and dying.

4. (figuratively) To counteract, to act against, to frustrate.
   • 2018 February 28, Justine Jordan, “Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday review – a dizzying debut”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Early on, Ezra gives her a lesson to countermand the endless female impulse to apologise: “Darling, don’t continually say ‘I’m sorry’. Next time you feel like saying ‘I’m sorry’, instead say ‘Fuck you’.”

5. (obsolete) To prohibit (a course of action or behavior).

   Synonyms: prohibit, forbid

   • 1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus, Or, The Anatomy of Consumptions:

     Avicen countermands letting blood in choleric bodles.

6. (obsolete) To oppose or revoke the command of (someone).
   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     For us to alter anything, is to lift ourselves against God; and, as it were, to countermand him.

7. (obsolete) To maintain control of, to keep under command.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i:

     Two thousand horſe ſhal forrage vp and downe,
     That no reliefe or ſuccour come by land.
     And all the ſea my Gallies countermaund.

Derived terms

• countermandable
• countermander
• countermandment
• uncountermanded

Translations

to revoke (a former command)

• Bulgarian: отменям (bg) (otmenjam), анулирам (bg) (anuliram)
• Romanian: contramanda (ro)
• Russian: отменя́ть (ru) impf (otmenjátʹ), отмени́ть (ru) pf (otmenítʹ), аннули́ровать (ru) impf or pf (annulírovatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: opozvati (sh)

to recall a person or unit

• Bulgarian: оттеглям (bg) (ottegljam)
• Russian: отзыва́ть (ru) impf (otzyvátʹ), отозва́ть (ru) pf (otozvátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: opozvati (sh)

See also

• counterargue

Noun

countermand (plural countermands)

1. An order to the contrary of a previous one.

Translations

an order to the contrary of a previous one

• French: contrordre (fr) m
• Italian: contrordine m
• Russian: отме́на прика́за/распоряже́ния f (otména prikáza/rasporjažénija), контрприка́з (ru) m (kontrprikáz)
• Serbo-Croatian: opoziv (sh) m, kontranaredba f
• Spanish: contraorden (es) f